Master of Science in Complementary Studies in Economics
The broadening Complementary Studies in Economics programme welcomes students holding a prior academic Bachelor's or Master's diploma in a non-economic discipline who wish to understand the economic mechanisms underlying today's social challenges.
This program is accredited by AACSB International – The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. AACSB is a global nonprofit association whose accreditation processes are ISO 9001:2015 certified.
What
The broadening Complementary Studies in Economics programme welcomes students holding a prior academic Bachelor's or Master's diploma in a non-economic discipline who wish to understand the economic mechanisms underlying today's social challenges. The programme will enable you to expand your economic toolbox and approach and analyse current and future social challenges from a multidisciplinary perspective. This frame of reference encompasses your prior education and the new economic tools you will learn.
Economic challenges have become an integral part of daily life. What are the economic mechanisms underlying the effects of globalisation? What are the decisive factors for economic growth? What is the correlation between development and environmental and climate issues? How do financial markets operate? Can we prevent another crisis? How do budgetary and monetary policies, along with other policy interventions, contribute to greater wealth and reduced inequality? The Complementary Studies in Economics programme enables you to understand and analyse the economic aspects of these challenges to derive relevant policy insights and recommendations.
For whom
The admission requirements may vary. Depending on your prior education, you can either enrol directly or there are additional requirements.
Structure
Complementary Studies in Economics comprises a preparatory and a Master's programme. Worth 20 ECTS credits, the preparatory programme teaches the fundamentals of Economics. You will learn to understand the microeconomic behaviour of customers and producers and the resulting market price-making forces. Additionally, you will explore the concepts of macroeconomic balance along with their corresponding fluctuations and disruptions. You will grasp the correlations between macroeconomic policy, growth, and inequality. The methodology course unit will introduce discipline-specific methodology. You will become acquainted with various subdisciplines of economic sciences and our department's research output.
The Master's curriculum contains 60 ECTS. You gain an advanced understanding of general labour market dynamics, and particularly the Belgian labour market. You study the international financial system and the instruments that central banks apply in their monetary policy. We introduce you to the causes and effects of economic globalisation regarding trade, financial, and migration flows. Additionally, we address the correlation between economic development and environmental quality, as well as the effects of environmental policy on both the environment and the economy. Finally, we familiarise you with the dynamics of the financial markets and banks. The Master's curriculum includes twelve ECTS worth of electives from a fixed list. Choose your electives based on your interests, your Master's dissertation topic, or to prepare for your entry into the labour market.
The Master's dissertation (18 ECTS) measures your ability to autonomously apply the knowledge you have gained. In consultation with your supervisor, you choose a topic within the field of Economics or develop a subject based on your prior education that has an economic aspect you wish to explore. The programme will specifically guide you in this selection.
Exemptions are possible based on previously acquired credits. While you are still in your first study programme, you can already select specific electives that align with our preparatory and/or Master's programme.
Labour Market
Future employers increasingly expect their employees to be familiar with economic concepts and correlations. A broad economic background is an asset, and sometimes even a requirement. The broadening Complementary Studies in Economics programme will provide you with that background. Whether you are a bioengineer, historian, or political scientist, you will perform better if you understand an organisation's economic context. A comprehensive economic understanding is a crucial advantage in today's labour market, which increasingly values flexibility. A solid knowledge of economic dynamics is essential for every ambitious and inquisitive young graduate.
At Ghent University, we strive to educate people who dare to think about the challenges of tomorrow. For that purpose, we provide education that is embedded in six strategic objectives: Think Broadly, Keep Researching, Cultivate Talent, Contribute, Extend Horizons, Opt for Quality.
Ghent University continuously focuses on quality assurance and quality culture. The Ghent University's quality assurance system offers information on each study programme’s unique selling points, and on its strengths and weaknesses with regard to quality assurance.
Quality Assurance
At Ghent University, we strive to educate people who dare to think about the challenges of tomorrow. For that purpose, we provide education that is embedded in six strategic objectives: Think Broadly, Keep Researching, Cultivate Talent, Contribute, Extend Horizons, Opt for Quality.
Ghent University continuously focuses on quality assurance and quality culture. The Ghent University's quality assurance system offers information on each study programme’s unique selling points, and on its strengths and weaknesses with regard to quality assurance.
More information:
Unique Selling Points
- Multidisciplinarity: the broadening Complementary Studies in Economics programme is a programme you take on after having completed another academic Bachelor’s or Master’s degree. Joining a group of mature students with various study backgrounds, you immerse yourself in and discuss broad economic themes. Our programme offers a combination of domain-specific knowledge and previously acquired knowledge from a variety of disciplines.
- Student talent development: our students have a considerable degree of freedom to tailor the curriculum to their own interests. The combination of three electives and a Master’s dissertation topic of your choice allow you to give your curriculum a distinctly personal touch (e.g. specialization in a certain sub-domain of economics).
- Curriculum: the current hot topics of globalization, environment, labour and economic growth are mandatory subjects for everyone in the Complementary Studies in Economics programme. As indicated above, you complement the mandatory course units with three specialized electives, leaving plenty of time for completing the Master’s dissertation. Taken together, the general course units form a short preparatory study programme worth 27 ECTS credits. This ensures a step-by-step knowledge build-up. Several of these general course units are integrated in the economics minors in other study programmes.
- Knowledge creation: our graduates are versatile Masters who combine their prior education with newly acquired economic knowledge. We train our students to become critical professionals who can work in a team, and teach them to think and work in a creative and problem-solving manner.
Strengths
- Our programme boasts a dedicated team of lecturers who combine their passion for teaching with their research expertise and a commitment to premium-quality lectures.
- Approachability: being a small study programme, we focus on low-threshold contact between lecturers and students.
- Various study backgrounds: students enter our programme coming from highly diverse education backgrounds. Once they have acquired a basic knowledge of economics, they are able to establish productive connections between economics and the various study backgrounds.
- Study backgrounds valorized: our programme tries to integrate and thus valorize students’ prior education as much as possible. In their Master’s dissertation, many students explore the economic aspects of a problem they have dealt with from a different angle in their prior education.
Challenges
- Master’s dissertation process: the combination of a preparatory programme worth 27 ECTS-credits with a Master’s programme worth 60 ECTS-credits results in trajectories that deviate from the traditional academic year. Our programme is structured in such a way that students with a default study progress can complete the entire study programme and graduate in the first term of the second year. The search for a Master’s dissertation topic comes relatively early. We focus on specific coaching when it comes to choosing dissertation topics at the start of the programme in the form a specific information session and extra attention within the methodological course unit that is part of the preparatory programme.
- Active learning methods: many course units make use of active teaching methods. Nevertheless, students indicate that they do not always see sufficient opportunities within the programme to apply their knowledge or to practice skills. This is something we monitor actively.
- Internationalisation: the programme’s limited duration and the large amount of knowledge that must be imparted, leaves little room for internationalisation. We are examining possibilities to develop Internationalisation@home initiatives.
Tailored coaching programme: as stipulated in the quality improvement plan, the study programme in liaison with the faculty and the Education Department, is set to eliminate the weaknesses within a reasonable time frame. The study programme delivers regular progress reports to the Education Quality Board.
This study programme is accredited by the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (Dutch: NVAO). Accreditation was extended following the positive outcome of the institutional review in 2022. Programme quality was validated by a quality review, i.e. a screening of the Education Monitor by the Education Quality Board. The resulting Quality Assurance Resolution can be found here.
This program is accredited by AACSB International – The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. AACSB is a global nonprofit association whose accreditation processes are ISO 9001:2015 certified.
This information was last updated on 10/07/2024.
In case of questions or suggestions with regard to the publicly available information, please contact the study programme.